Man Accused of Shooting Concealed Carry Holder Violated Electronic Monitoring Program
A man accused of shooting a concealed carry holder on the Red Line this summer was supposed to be confined to his home under one of the Cook County Chief Judge’s electronic monitoring programs, but he was instead on the streets, one of many violations he racked up in the weeks before the attack, according to court records reviewed by CWBChicago.
The case adds to the growing concerns about apparently lax operations of the court’s electronic monitoring programs in the wake of last week’s brutal fire attack aboard a Blue Line train in the Loop by Lawrence Reed, a man who was also supposed to be at home on an ankle monitor.
Henry Seals, 24, is charged with reckless discharge of a firearm after prosecutors said he took a man’s handgun and shot him during a chaotic confrontation aboard a Red Line train near Sox-35th on the afternoon of June 24.
Seals’ pending felony drug case file shows he should not have been on the train at all. Judge Arthur Willis placed him on electronic monitoring in April, ordering him to stay inside his home at all times except for a window between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays.
A court officer’s report of non-compliance dated May 30 shows Seals blew through those restrictions repeatedly. On May 12, he violated curfew three times for a total of four hours. The next day, the report listed 20 violations totaling several hours. Seven violations were recorded on May 14. Two more on May 15, including one six-hour stretch during which he was apparently on the streets.
Despite the mounting violations, Seals remained on the program. After a May 30 hearing, he was released again and racked up another wave of violations on June 6, June 7, June 8, June 9, and June 18, according to another non-compliance report filed July 1.
But Seals failed to appear in court on July 1. He also failed to appear on July 8 and July 10, according to court records. Judge Willis finally issued a warrant for his arrest after the third no-show.
While portions of the July 1 violations report are obscured in the court record, it appears that Seals’ monitor stopped tracking him around June 19. But the chief judge’s staff is not authorized to hunt down violators, so he remained on the loose, unmonitored for weeks. Including on June 24, a Tuesday when he was supposed to be at home, but was instead, according to prosecutors, shooting a man on the Sox-35th Street Red Line platform.
Prosecutors said Seals and an accomplice were squirting each other with water guns on the train around 4:32 p.m., and the water struck the victim, a licensed concealed carry holder. The man objected, and an argument began.
When the victim opened his backpack and placed his hand inside, prosecutors said Seals’ companion put the man in a chokehold while Seals punched him repeatedly in the face and took his backpack. Seals allegedly put his hand inside the bag and left the train at Sox-35th.
The victim managed to break free, followed Seals, and tackled him on the platform. During the scuffle, prosecutors said Seals reached into the bag, grabbed the victim’s Glock, and fired it, striking the man in the lower left buttock. Surveillance cameras recorded the entire encounter. Seals allegedly ran out of the station with the victim’s gun.
The victim returned to the train and was picked up by an ambulance at the Roosevelt station.
Detectives used facial recognition software on CTA surveillance images to identify Seals by matching footage to his driver’s license photo, prosecutors said. The victim picked Seals out of a photo lineup, and four Chicago police officers who had previously arrested or encountered Seals on the Red Line over the past year also identified him.
Officers tried to locate Seals for months, and they eventually caught up with him this month. By then, the victim stopped cooperating. So, rather than being charged with shooting the concealed carry holder, Seals is charged with reckless discharge of a firearm. Judge Shauna Boliker granted the state’s detention petition.
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